All eyes are set to turn to Bratislava this month as the European Council meets to debate the future of bilateral trade and investment talks with the US, particularly amid suggestions from some ministers and national leaders that the process should be put on hold. The Transatlantic Trade and...

During the last two decades, the global trading system has witnessed major evolutions. In particular, as a result of the lack of meaningful progress at the WTO in the framework of the Doha Round, various trade partners have increasingly sought other avenues to pursue their commercial interests,...

How can Africa mitigate the potential negative impacts of mega-regional trade agreements and support its structural transformation efforts through trade? Since the early 2000s, regional trade agreements (RTAs) – allowed under WTO rules – have flourished. Interestingly, this development has taken...

This article serves to explore and evaluate the economic effects of planned mega-regional free trade agreements on Africa, as well as to give specific policy advice to their members in order to make future trade more inclusive towards African economies. The world of global trade is changing in a...

Better aligning trade and aid policies, such as through more responsible supply chains, was high on the agenda as European trade and development ministers convened for an informal meeting on Tuesday, with the 2 February luncheon in the Dutch capital of Amsterdam marking their first-ever joint...

African countries should translate their regional integration projects into real action on the ground, especially given today’s rapidly evolving landscape of international trade regulation, African Union (AU) trade ministers said following a 4-5 December conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. “The...

“We’re talking about what could be the biggest bilateral trade deal in history, a deal that will have a greater impact than all the other trade deals on the table put together.” In June 2013, when hosting the G8-summit, British Prime Minister David Cameron used these words to announce the proposed...

During the first “wave” of Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) bilateral agreements were the norm; most of the 300 plus agreements notified to the WTO are bilateral agreements although there are some exceptions – for example, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and some economic...

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) currently under negotiation by the United States (US) and the European Union (EU) promises to unleash significant opportunities to generate jobs, trade and investment across the Atlantic. An independent study by the Centre for Economic...

In early 2013, the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations were introduced with great fanfare in President Obama's State of the Union Address . The EU and the US as the world's two largest economic zones would be united in a trade and investment pact, which would generate...

EU governments last Thursday decided to make public negotiating instructions given to the European Commission in June 2013 for hammering out the bloc’s ongoing transatlantic trade talks with the US. EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht welcomed the news, noting that he had previously encouraged...

The fifth round of negotiations for a bilateral US-EU trade and investment pact wrapped up on Friday, after a week of meetings held in the city of Arlington, Virginia. With officials reporting continued progress in their discussions – with some negotiating areas working off of consolidated texts –...

Top officials from the US and EU have continued to make a strong public push in favour of their planned bilateral trade pact, highlighting the critical nature of such a deal for advancing global trade rule-making and for lowering the EU’s dependence on Russian energy. The political support comes...

EU and US negotiators met in Brussels last week for their fourth round of bilateral trade talks, which saw some signs of progress, albeit limited. Many observers had hoped to see some early indications on how difficult areas - such as the level of tariff elimination or harmonisation of regulations...